Entertainment

Suing an employer for discrimination is agonizing, so why does anyone do it?

Ellen Pao, center, speaks to reporters with attorneys Therese Lawless, left, and Alan Exelrod at Civic Center Courthouse in San Francisco, Friday, March 27, 2015. A jury decided Friday that a prestigious venture capital firm did not discriminate or retaliate against Pao in a case that shined a light on gender imbalance and working conditions for women in Silicon Valley.

Pao, who sought $16 million in lost wages and possibly more in punitive damages, not only lost the case but watched as attorneys and witnesses revealed and argued over intimate details about her personal relationships and work performance.

Given that suing an employer for discrimination and retaliation is a battle of David and Goliath proportions, it's worth asking: why subject yourself to that kind of agony?

Ellen Pao testified that she had "no choice" after she "pushed" for years to change the firm's culture.

"Litigation is painful and difficult. This has been three years of my life," Pao said. "My information is all public ... This is not a good process for resolving disputes. I wanted something meaningful so I could avoid all this."

Kathryn Dickson, an employment litigator at Dickson Geesman LLP in Oakland, California, tells Mashable that, despite the difficulty of filing a lawsuit, most people sue to change their employer's practices, achieve justice and win compensation.

Discrimination suits often focus on gender, race, sexual harassment, national origin, age, disability, religion, and in states where it is protected, sexual orientation.

In fiscal year 2014, American workers filed more than 88,000 claims of discrimination with the federal government; 29% of those were based on sex.

Preventing employment #discrimination from occurring in the 1st place is preferable to remedying the consequences of discrimination.#EEOC

Dickson says the type of claims brought to her firm tend to fluctuate when high-profile cases hit the news. In the past few weeks, Dickson has received several calls from "high level" women interested in exploring a discrimination case.

"It’s clear to me they were inspired to talk about the possibility of bringing a case because of the Pao case," says Dickson. "Some women say, 'I’ve had it. [Pao] did it; she’s brave. I can do it too.'"

Two former employees of Facebook and Twitter recently filed lawsuits alleging gender discrimination, though it's not clear if the Pao case affected the plaintiffs' decision to come forward.

Most claims, however, don't make it to a jury trial, Dickson says. Instead, they are settled out of court through mediation or arbitration. That is a comparatively quiet process where the plaintiff's name doesn't necessarily go into the public record for her future employers to discover during a background check. It can also lead to significant changes in company policy.

In a recent case Dickson won in arbitration, a farmworker accused her employer, Reiter Berry Farms, of sexual assault and harassment. The arbitrator awarded the victim $700,000 for emotional distress and $100,000 for future mental health care expenses.

The company, which employs 16,000 people, must also implement new training, complaint and reporting procedures and mechanisms. A neutral outside monitor will oversee the process.

Proving the merit of such allegations can be grueling, especially when an employee alleges gender discrimination or harassment.

"The sliver where an employee can get this just right is very tiny," Dickson says. "If a woman complains too soon, she's thin-skinned ... If she puts up with it for a long time, which a lot of women do, it couldn't have been that bad."

Though most plaintiffs quit before filing a lawsuit, some, like Ellen Pao, sue while still working for their employer. That rare scenario, says Dickson, is the most difficult: "You become a pariah. You’re just in this awkward, awkward position."

Neverthless, Dickson anticipates new cases will emerge.

"There will clearly be more gender discrimination cases now," she says. "The visibility is there and more women will come forward. I have no doubt."

Mashable
is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.